Automatic school desk and seat



(No Model.) 2 SheetsSheet 1.

J. H. STIGGLEMAN.

1 v AUTOMATIC SCHOOL DESK AND SEAT. No. 392,892. Patented Nov. 13, 1888.

(No Model.) 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 J. H. STIGGLEMAN.

AUTOMATIC SCHOOL DESK AND SEAT.

No. 392,892. Patented N0v. 13, 1888.

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NITED STATES PATENT JAMES HENRY STIGGLEMAN, OF LINOOLNVILLE, INDIANA.

AUTOMATIC SCHOOL DESK AND SEAT.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 392,892, dated November13, 1.888.

Application filed May22, 1888. Serial Not 274,675.

To aZZ whom, it may concern:

Beit known that I, JAMES HENRY STIGGLE- MAN, of the town ofLincolnville, in the county of Wabash and State of Indiana, haveinvented certain new and useful Improvements in Automatic School Seatsand Desks and I do hereby declare that the following is a full, clear,and exact description of the invention, which will enable others skilledin the art to which it appertains to make and use the same, referencebeing had to the accompanying drawings, and to the letters of referencemarked thereon, which form part of this specification.

My invention relates to an improvement in that class of school desks andseats in which the seat for one desk is attached to the front of anotherdesk.

The object of my invention is to produce a desk in which the seat willnot only adapt itself to the movement of the body of the pupil as herises, but will also, by its own Weight, follow the motion of the pupilsbody as he is resuming a sitting position, the seat being so mounted asto be in or nearly in a horizontal position by the time the pupil isseated; and a further object is to improve the construction andoperation and increase the usefulness of the desk and seat set forth andclaimed in Patent No. 321,322, issued to me June 30, 1885; and withthese ends in View my invention consists in certain novel features ofconstruction and combinations of parts, more fully describedhereinafter, and particularly pointed out in the claims.

Referring to the accompanying drawings, Figure l is a front perspectiveview of the device, showing the seat lowered in its normal position andthe pivoted book-repository or desk proper also in its normal position.Fig. 2 is a side elevation of the complete device, showing the seatfolded and the desk proper partially rotated on its pivotal bearings.Fig. 3 is a detail view in elevation of the front or lower pivotal braceof the seat, the upper portion of the desk being broken away. Fig. 4 isa detail perspective view of a portion of the back of the seat and upperportion of a standard and one side of the book-repository or desk properdetached from its usual position at the-back of the seat and showing theman- (No model.)

ner of removably pivoting or mounting the desk proper, the top of thedesk being shown in dotted lines. Fig. 5 is a rear view of one end ofthe back of the seat, illustrating the detent or latch for normallypreventing the seat from swinging too far back and folding when in use.Fig. 6 is a detail view illustrating the manner of pivoting the rearswing-braces to the seat, the seat and the seat-iron at that end beingshown in crosssection; and Fig. 7 is a detail perspective viewillustrating the various parts composing the pivotal points or bearingsof the various pivoted members of the seat.

In the drawings, the reference-letter A repsents the two side pieces orstandards composing the supporting-frame of the combined seat and desk,and said standards are preferably formed of metal, each cast separateand integral, and the two standards are secured together and stronglyand firmly braced by suit able cross-pieces or the like.

13 indicates the board or boards composing the back of the seat, thestandards being extended upwardly and provided with side flanges b, towhich said back is secured, as shown.

0 represents the seat, which is provided with the seat-irons c, to whichthe seat proper is secured in asuitable manner,and to the rear ends ofsaid seat-irons the lower ends of upper swing-braces, D, are pivotallysecured. The upper ends of said braces are pivotally secured at points aa to the front portion of the standards which form the arm-rests or endsof the seat proper. These braces are located on the outer side of thestandards, and the standards are provided with the flanges or webs a,partially closing the open ends of that portion of the same forming theends ofthe seat proper, so that the upper pivotal braces will not catchthe clothing orfingersofthe pupils in raising or lowering the seat, thelower edges of said webs or flanges being sectors of a circle to allowthe swing-braces and the seat to freely swing in their respective arcs,as clearly shown.

The front end of the seat is pivotally supported by the lower frontbrace, E, which is preferably cast in one piece and pivotally secured atits lower ends to each standard at r00 -points 0' O, and at its upperends it is pivoted at points 0 C to the front ends of the scat-irons, asshown in Fig. 3. Thus it will be seen that as the pupil rises the seatis carried upward beneath the desk and back and out of the way of thepupil immediately in the rear of the desk, and as the pupil resumes thesitting position the seat will follow his downward movement and willhave assumed the horizontal position by the time the pupil has reachedthesitting position.

A detent or latch, F, is pivoted to swing vertically and in a planeparallel with the longitudinal plane of the back of the seat, and saiddetent is pivoted ator about its center to the lower portion of the rearface of the flange b, and is provided with a handle portion, f, aboveits pivotalpoint and with adownwardlyextending stop or arm, j", providedwith a notch or the like in its lower end, as shown, and adapted toengage one of the upper swingbraccs and limit its upward movement andthereby limit the upward swing of the seat when the pupil rises, andprevents it from swinging so far upward and back as to pass beyond itscenter of gravity and assume its folded position and not automaticallydrop to the horizontal position when the pupil moves to sit down, as itshould when in use.

XVhen it is desired to fold the seat to the position shown in Fig. 2 fortransportation, or when it is not to be occupied for some time, theoperator simply presses in on the handle of the detent, which throws thenotched end of the stop or lower portion out of engagement with theswing-brace and allows it to swing upward until the seat is foldedbackward beyond its center of gravity, as clearly shown in Fig. 5, andwhen the pressure is removed from the handle the detent will resume itsnormal position, in which position it is removably held by a lug, g,which engages the standard. Although this lug is not essential, it iscommonly employed. In common practice but one detent is preferablyused,which is located on the left-hand side of the seat.

The seat-irons are provided with forwardlyprojecting arms h h on theirlower side, the lower free ends of which are adapted to bear against thelower pivotal braces at points 'i i for the purpose of preventing theseat from swinging forward beyond its proper position when the weight ofthe pupil is resting upon it. At the points 1' '5 the lower pivotalbraces are provided with apertures or cups adapted to receive and holdin position rubber blocks or buffers,with which the ends of said curvedarms 71, h are adapted to engage when the seat is occupied and at orabout its center said brace is provided with a forwardly-projecting lug,h, which may or may not be, as desired, provided with a rubber buffer,and said projecting lug h is adapted to engage and catch the seat whenfolded, thereby obviating the noise which would otherwise be occasionedby the seat striking flatly against the full length of the lower brace.Each upper swing-brace upon its lower side is provided with a cup orsocket, jj', in which are held elastic buffers to engage suitable lugsor projections on the standards when the seat is dropped in position,thereby preventing the noise which is so common and annoying inschool-rooms. The upper swing-braces and the lower supporting stud orboss, Z", which is formed integral with r a seat-iron or standard, asthe case may be, and surrounds one end of an aperture through the same,and the parts are'elamped together by a bolt which passes through theaperture and is providedupon the outer end with a nut and washer, asshown. Thus an exceedingly simple and effective bearing or pivotaljointis effected, which will not wear out. As shown in Fig. 6, the rearswing-braces are preferably slightly curved outward at their lowerportion, and the studs or bosses of the seat-irons to which they arepivoted are somewhat longerthan the others.

H indicates the desk proper or book-repository, which is pivotally andremovably secured by'journals on its upper side working in bearings onthe upper side of the tops of the standards at the rear of the backportion of the seat, and said desk proper is journaled to turnVertically and is held in its normal horizontal position by a piece ortop, A, secured to said tops of the standards and beneath which the endof the desk extends, and said end of the desk also bears against theback of the scat, which also prevents its forward end from swingingdownward. The desk proper is removably pivoted to the standards in thefollowing manner, viz: Lugs 70 76(0116 on each side) project upward fromthe outer upward side of said tops of the standards and are providedwith semicircular transverse openings or hearings in their upper sides,and the desk proper is provided with a pair of correspondingi'ipwardly-extending lugs, arms,

or the like, 7t 70', which are located at the in-.

nor sides of lugs ]t' 70 and are each provided with alaterally-extending spindle or journal, Z, adapted to rotate or turn insaid bearings.

The dotted lines represent the boards comprising the top of the desk,one piece of which is fastened to the top of standards, while the otheris fastened to the upper edge of the repository ends, and said boardsare beveled at their meeting edges to allow for the free and easyremoval or replacement of the desk-1e pository, which it is easy to seecan be done by turning the desk to a vertical position and lifting itfrom its bearings, the operation of replacing it being similar. Themanner of pivoting the desk proper is clearly illustrated in Fig. 4. Thebearing and pivots for said desk are surrounded by the top boards of thedesk,

so that the desk has a perfectly smooth level sockets having buffers,and as the seat can be folded and the desk proper is removable the spaceconsumed in packing the goods for shipment is much less than is requiredin ordinary desks, and hence considerable expense is saved in the way offreights, express, 850.

It is clearly evident that various slight changes might be resorted toin the form and arrangement of the parts described without departingfrom the spirit and scope of my invention; heneeI do not wish to limitmyself strictly to theprecisc construction herein set forth, butconsider myself entitled to all such slight changes as fall within thespirit and scope of my invention.

What I claim isg 1. In a school-desk, the combination of the standard,an automatically-swinging seat, thelower brace or supporting-frame ofthe seat,

the upper swinging braces pivoted at their lower ends to the seat andextending upwardly on the outer side of that part of the standardsforming the ends of the seat and pivoted to the same at their upperends, and the herein-described flanges or webs, one formed with eachstandard and partially closing the standards forming the ends of theseat and located be tween said upper swing-braces and the seat, for thepurpose described.

2. The combination, with the standards and the herein-described swingingseat carried by upper and lower braces pivoted to the standards and tothe seat, of a pivotal detent or latch, whereby the seat is normallyprevented from folding by stopping itfrom swinging upwardly beyond itscenter of gravity, substantially as described.

3. In combination, the standards, thcswinging seat, the upper braces,the lower braces or supporting-frame, and the herein-described detent orlatch pivoted to a standard above the seat and provided with a handleand with a stop or arm extending into the arc in which an upper braceswings and adapted to engage the same, and thereby normallyprevent theseat from folding by limiting its upward and backward swing,substantially as described.

In testimony that I claim the foregoing as my own invention I affixmysignature inpresence of two witnesses.

JAMES HENRY STIGGLEMAN.

\Vitnesses:

WARREN BIGLER, J OIIN H. DIOKEN.

